A new 232-page volume will capture the revitalization of The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY – from 2012 through 2019 – with professional photos chronicling hundreds of historic performances at the venue.

The Capitol Theatre, Volume 1 will include a foreword written by the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh and showcase photographs by Jay Blakesberg, Marc Millman, Dino Perrucci, Andrew Scott Blackstein, Scott Harris, Geoff Tischman, Dylan Langille, Josh Timmermans, Danny Clinch, Charlie Gross, Gary Flink, and Chad Anderson.

Elvis Costello, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Warren Haynes, David Shaw of The Revivalists and many more also contributed thoughtful quotes to the book.

As Blakeberg explains, The Capitol Theatre, Volume 1 took three years to put together, and it is an ongoing, visual history of the historic room’s most amazing musical moments.

“We live in this fleeting digital world where people consume photos really small on their phone and on computer screens,” Blakesberg explains. “I think Pete [Shapiro] and myself and a lot of people like to hold a tangible thing in their hands and be able to look through it and absorb that content in an analog, old-fashioned way. It’s a different experience. It’s not fleeting. It’s a little bit more meaningful, and it’s a little bit more of a connection.”

The countless musicians captured in the book range from Lesh to Trey Anastasio, Norah Jones, Colonel Bruce Hampton, Robert Plant, Widespread Panic, Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, Jenny Lewis, Bon Iver and many more.

This marks Blakesberg’s fifth photo book project with Shaprio. Their previous collaborations chronicled 2015’s historic Fare Thee Well concerts as well as the last six years of the LOCKN’ Festival.

“You can really feel these photographs,” Blakesberg adds. “You can feel what was going on when they were taken and what was happening onstage… Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips wrote such a fabulous, incredible quote that we ended up putting it on the back cover. It says, ‘Performing at the Capitol Theatre is like a seance. You see, if you can get the audience to scream and applaud and react loud enough, you can wake up the ghosts of The Cap’s past. Perhaps Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, or Janis Joplin’s ghost will ooze out of the walls and drip from the ceiling and will somehow float into your head and hands and inhabit your performance. There can be no other explanation for the level of intensity and inspiration that is experienced while playing The Cap.'”

To purchase The Capitol Theatre, Volume 1 click here.